Calming Cyclones: Various

     Accompanying their Moving Mountains compilation album, Juggernaut Services and its founder Nick Quarm have released a second album of artists working with the management and promotion company. Calming Cyclones brings together tracks and bands which reap the rewards of and flourish within calmer melodic areas of industrial/electro. Consisting of sixteen tracks the album is a warm and refreshing further evidence of the passion and powerful imagination and creativity within underground electronic music right now, something which has maybe always been the case but now with the likes of Juggernaut has an emerging voice to be heard by.

     Made up of tracks from ten artists, with some offering two entries, the album offers the dancefloor and emotions a vibrant alternative to unleash its passions to, a collection of new artists for which invention and original thought is as instinctive as breathing. The album opens with Burning Down from XP8, a duo from Italy, who also closes the release with the track Trip remixed by Cutoff:Sky. The song is a riveting expanse of golden electro kisses with an acidic heat coursing through the elegance but also offers a sinister intimidation across its embrace which is startling and unforgettable. Infectious and virulent to feet and passions, the track is a potent opening statement for the album, soon ably backed up by UK band MiXE1. The solo project of Michael Evans, the band engages and seduces the ear with the delicious embrace of Breathe, a song which smothers the senses in warmth and melodic mastery brought through emotive radiance. Originally released on the EP Module 01 via Static Distortion Records, the track like the first holds a menace deep within its heart which snarls from within the dazzling depths. Evans also offers a second song in the even more impressive electro tease of This Is Not Goodbye from Module 02, the song a union of extremes and unpredictability offering a NIN/ Celldweller meets Sonic Syndicate treat.

Another band which ignites the fullest rapture on the album is Oklahoma based electronic band, Pittersplatter who firstly with Necrotech enthrals and deliciously contaminates the senses with explosive cyber spawn melodies and an exhausting soundscape before returning again later to equal strength and addictive allurement with Mummies And Music Boxes and its invidious sonic theatrics.

Throughout its rich breadth the album continues to enchant and raise shadows with craft and enterprise. The album like its sister release has  impressive consistency in quality, imagination, and depth to all the tracks featured. Most single compilations waver within personal tastes but the pair from Juggernaut Services ignites the passions with every minute of their declarations. The likes of Manchester, UK band Cortex Defect with their two slices of future pop, Bliss Of Surrender and Heart Of Dust (Club Mix), the twin goth/darkwave offerings Messiah and Songs Made Of Solitude And Pain from Belarus band Kaltherzig, and Washington DC Retrogramme all cast their diverse and emotive sonic instigations upon the listener bringing the fullest rewards. The last of the three is a trio of musicians who create a tapestry of synthpop, darkwave, and ambience into a mesmeric and enveloping atmospheric encounter with a pop lit heart and electro voice. On Calming Cyclones their songs 911 For Locals and Heaven Is Closer Than You Think entice and infuse the most open of emotions and pleasure.

The likes of Revenant Cult from Australia and Canadians Psykkle with their dark electro continue the shifting infection upon the album whilst Scottish misanthropes Plastic Noose ensure the album ends on an elevated pinnacle in the sonic sedition Road To Perdition immediately backed up by Tactical Module and the Cortex Defect Remix of Dead Zone.

As with its companion compilation, Calming Cyclones in its own unique and distinct presence leaves the previously hidden shadows of industrial/electro underground with all it glorious detours an openly lit invitation, something which to ignore would be irresponsible to the passions.

Get the Name Your Price purchase @
http://music.juggernautservices.com/album/calming-cyclones

8/10

Tracklisting:

1. XP8 – Burning Down

2. MiXE1 – Breathe

3. Pittersplatter – Necrotech

4. Cortex Defect – Bliss Of Surrender

5. Kaltherzig – Messiah

6. Retrogramme – 911 For Locals

7. Revenant Cult – Spectral Heresy

8. MiXE1 – This Is Not Goodbye

9. Cortex Defect – Heart Of Dust (Club Mix)

10. Pittersplatter – Mummies And Music Boxes

11. Retrogramme – Heaven Is Closer Than You Think

12. Kaltherzig – Songs Made Of Solitude And Pain

13. Psykkle – City Of Nodes (Revenant Cult Remix)

14. Plastic Noose – Road To Perdition

15. Tactical Module – Dead Zone (Cortex Defect Remix)

16. XP8 – Trip (Remixed By Cutoff:Sky)

RingMaster 07/03/2013

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Listen to the best independent music and artists on The RingMaster Review Radio Show and The Bone Orchard from

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Cease2Xist – You Are Expendable

You Are Expendable the debut album from Cease2Xist is undoubtedly the sweetest abrasion to be felt this year, the warmest violation and one of the most welcome mesmeric abuses upon the senses. The release from the British band was one of the more eagerly awaited albums this year but one wonders if any one truly expected something this powerful and imaginatively colossal. Crossing and pushing all boundaries musically and with its recipients, You Are Expendable unleashes a storm of industrial, harsh EBM, noise and post punk, in sound as well as attitude and energy. It is a toxic shower of caustic imagination and noise bringing the deepest fullest pleasure and smouldering rapture.

Cease2Xist is primarily Dayve Yates, with the skills of Jay Ruin, Seamus Bradd, and O.S. Entity added to the live setting. Back in 2010 with the release of debut EP Living by the Bullet, Yates immediately grabbed attention with his diverse composing and startling sound. With You are Expendable he has evolved and grown into a much more inventive and towering composer, a true merciless instigator of unforgiving sounds and unrelenting provocation. The album hits and rubs fiercely from beginning to end, its magnetic corrosive breath a mix of Cynical Existence and Gods Destruction, to simplify it, but offering a distinct uniqueness which marks the band as permanently recognisable from mere whispers of sound.

The album has a less than dramatic start if one is honest though that is in hindsight after the further riots have left their mark. Not All Is Wrong is a clash upon the ear of rhythmic surges within a disassociated seemingly crumbling atmosphere. It is a slow enveloping crawl over the senses, a statically bruised ambient smothering underneath the sonic eruptions. Though brief the piece sets up the senses for what is to follow without giving the full picture of the incredible strength and incendiary grandeur in store.    

My Burning Rage waves a melodic weave before the ear then manipulates it into pulsating sonic erosion which one willingly and swiftly succumbs to. The vocals of Yates are partly submerged within the brewing spite, the production and placing of his vocals a constant on the album and it works so well, adding to the shadowed and heart borne anger which sharp clarity would have distilled. The track itself leaves one breathless and smarting from its aural salt but wholly satisfied and eager for more violation.

The title track bakes the senses again with a sizzling contagion of scorched melodic touches and malignant energy to match the lyrical theme whilst the following Still Not Dead creates a dance to enrapture whilst peeling synapses further of their strength. Featuring MiXE1 on vocals alongside Yates, there is a sensational ebb and flow to the song within its rampant energy, the cleaner melodic tones of Mike Evans tempering and firing off of the harsher squalls of Yates.

Tonight is an aural defibrillator, its charged pulse shooting through ear, senses, mind and body, the sonic acid swirls it delivers cutting deeply as they tighten within the emerging sonic sandstorm. The track is as abrasive as the others whilst furthering the vibrant diversity which fuels the release, its melodies diving into the flailed flesh from the energies around them, to prove equally as violent but distinctly beautiful.

The likes of One-Zero, the virulent Teenage America, and the hypnotic I Am Destroyer only increase the depth of quality though all on the album is put into the shade by one song, the highest peak of the album, Occupy Everything. The track is irresistible, a thrilling, infectious, throbbing muscle of brilliance. A brazen and angry stomp bursting with dazzling electro fingerings and spiralling melodic ingenuity, the song is sheer addiction, its burrowing potency and majesty overwhelming whilst its crystalline expulsions and insatiable depravity persuades every cell of the body and all thoughts into subservience.

Cease2Xist has created one of the albums of the year in You Are Expendable, and upon its release on September 29^th through Static Distortion Records, a label which seemingly can do no wrong this year, the band and UK industrial music will take its rightful place at the head of the world table.

https://www.facebook.com/cease2xistuk

RingMaster 25/09/2012

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Ghost In The Static: Fallout

Pic – Wicked Boy Photography

Already having garnered a strong and eager fan base as well as strong acclaim for their previous album and EPs, it is not pushing the realms of credibility to predict Ghost In The Static will put it all in the shade once their new album Fallout hits the world on September 1^st. The album is quite simply immense, a magnificent explosion of electro industrial metal  which takes the senses on a massive thrilling ride. If you were impressed by their previous work and who could not be with its vibrancy and cutting energy, Fallout will leave you in rapture.

Formed in 2009 by frontman Steve Fearon, Ghost In The Static explored, experimented with, and evolved an evocative and stirring sound which was impossible not to connect with. Their Open Eyed Dreamer Part I: Revelation debut album of 2011 fully impressed as it showed a band still evolving but already creating compulsive inciteful sounds. Earlier this year two EPs The Infection Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 gave a teaser to what was to come and certainly ignited great anticipation though neither gave real warning of the incendiary levels of invention and  imagination to come. The new album has more muscle and intensity thrusting through its sound though the band has not neglected their electronic and melodic side. They have evolved it all into a striking consumption of emotional blistering and concussive energy. Think Celldweller and Suicide Commando in a riotous union with Nine Inch Nails and most of all Pitchshifter and you get a sense of the storm of creativity which envelops and brings climactic pleasure to a head.

Still within the world of post-apocalyptic struggle which themes their music, the new album is not so much a united series of songs as on the last album though all are linked by an overall  vibe to stand powerfully individually or as part of Fallout. This gives it a better balance than its predecessor in many ways but no less expansive in its atmosphere and depth. It is also more direct and intrusive, the attack a perpetual and sustained insistence from the first full track to the last lingering note of the release.

Starting with Armageddon, a brief intro setting the landscape the album is set in, the release slams into the ear with the title track, a stirring electrified rub of energy upon the senses. There is an immediate hunger to the song which takes no for an answer as the guitars of  Gareth Stapleton and Lewis Collins score the senses with sharp and impactful riffs and melodic surges. The synths of Collins sizzle like acid on flesh across the air of the track to disrupt the already riled energy pervading every pore, whilst the edgy basslines of Mike Fearon simply leaves one looking over their shoulder. A step into a graceful melodic aside gives brief respite though even there the tinge of destruction is whispering in the ear. The track is openly infectious and bustles thoughts and emotions in to a sense of something even more special to come.

      Another Day builds on the excellent start to raise the temperature even higher. It is a provocative and challenging slice of invention which straight away evokes imagery and emotions. A distressed ambience opens the song with the fear and desperation of someone lost calling through the sonic distortion. The plea is smothered as the track erupts into a boiling maelstrom of energies and aural disruption. The rhythms of drummer Martin Rogers echo and pulsate within bone as the song ignites the caustic air with its contagious tarnished melodic enterprise and insistent niggling synths. It is the triumphant brassy jazz sounds though which provide the match to full rapture which lingers long after the closing return to the lonely voice.

The muscular and venomous IWTMT  brings a fluid union of metal and electronic craft to keep things stewing perfectly whilst the ferocious stomp of Saviour and the corrosive breath of Rapture just give further abrasive charges of electrified pleasure. Each and every track leaves nothing but awe in their wake but when it comes to Not Enough and Fallen Gods it becomes something almost illicit. The first is simply infection gone wild, the rampaging energies and hooks barbed with addiction making melodic poison as it sweeps limbs and senses up into a brawling and insatiable tornado of sound and passion. Once bitten the song remains within forever, a companion in sleep, thought, and those intimate moments though its rhythms make a great pace maker. Fallen Gods is the same, a song which refuses to leave without an exorcism. Like a rampant Rabbit Junk, the band teases and molests with more of their adoration baiting melodies and inspirational imagination and both confirm what a strong vocalist Steve has become. Both carry a more electronic gait in contrast to the harder earlier songs though all are perfectly unruly and powerful.

With two vocal guests in MiXE1 on Lost and Cease2Xist  in Everyone, a couple of emerging industrial/electro powers, and the closing dark elegance of Judgement Day, the album is the fullest feast of experimentation, imagination, and irresistible energy. The pleasure does not stop there though as the CD version alone contains the brilliant and slightly punky YDNTL plus the equally stunning Nihilism III, which to our mind makes the download redundant such their greatness, but do not tell the band we said that.

Fallout is one of the best albums to come out this year and within electro industrial metal possibly the very best so far. Ghost In The Static has come a long way since those early days and just keep getting better and better. Whilst you mark that release date  off on your calendars we are off for a cold shower, phew!

To find out more, pre-orders etc go to 
http://staticdistortionrecords.co.uk

Listen to Ghost In The Static tracks from Fall Out on The Bone Orchard podcast from The Reputation Radio Show

RingMaster 16/08/2012

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Draconic Eliminations Project featuring MiXE1: In:Parallel

 

In:Parallel is the first collaboration between two rising forces in UK industrial/Electronica/EBM. The release sees the creative union of Draconic Elimination Projects and MiXE1 and makes for a thoughtful and thought provoking experience. The tracks within the EP scale industrial subgenres pulling them into a fully intriguing and at times mesmeric relationship with the ear. Imaginative and unpredictable the EP ignites sure promise for further artistic merges as well as a keen trigger to investigate the individual work of those involved in the release.

      Draconic Eliminations Project comprises of Guildford musician Mark Haigh and is a project exploring the dark shadows of electronics. With a 2011 self titled EP and a track on the recently released This Is What We Call British Industrial compilation already grabbing attention, Haigh has created the striking music and sounds for this new EP with MiXE1 through his lyrics and vocals brings an emotive atmosphere. MiXE1 is the solo project of Mike Evans who has only just released his second and impressive EP Module 02 on Static Distortion Records. Before hearing any music the thought is that the pair makes for an interesting and almost obvious fit, In:Parallel easily confirms.

Released July 1^st the EP keeps one guessing and fully focused through its expressive and inventive tracks. The release opens with We Are Inside Your Head, a song which within seconds of its haunting whispers and disturbed early ambience has the ear captivated. As the breath and pulse of the song lifts to find a little more urgency the vocals clasp every note with a melodic caress whilst a distinct shadowed undertone and predatory blackened sounds prowl the lighter sonic grace. The track infests the senses with a schizophrenic air behind its dazzling surface, a distressed energy permeating the ear in sound and vocals which seemingly are fighting the smooth sonics of the song. It makes for a track which triggers thoughts whilst slowly and secretly corrupting at the same time.

Violet shifts into a livelier and brighter atmosphere as it twists and flows through varied electro premises. The song is a blistering and insistent intrusion with an eager energy and drive within the acutely composed structures. With its sonic spattering upon the senses alongside the acidic manipulations as well as the coarser underlying intensity the song leaves one rife with instinctive thoughts and feelings.

Opening up further EBM areas the following electro stomp of Reversal is a breathless electronic surge through the ear with a darkened snarling heart preying on the senses. The track is a fine blend of venom and rampant electro lust to ensure a song again igniting evolving ideas and emotions. As with the previous two tracks it is not a song to immediately pull one right into its heart, the shadows and spiteful edge  a preying energy within the hypnotic light but it does bring a deeper intrigue than many similar veined releases.

The EP closes with Close To Me, a song which slips easily through the ear with a smooth and warm atmosphere in sound and voice though as ever there is a roughened edge to keep things unpredictable. The final song is a remix of  We Are Inside Your Head from Haru Yasumi Daibakuhatsu. The mix offers an inventive and consuming soundscape whilst highlighting a different facet of the original for n overall slightly destructive captivation.

In:Parallel is not the most infectious release in recent times but is one of the more imaginative and whilst it may not ignite the fullest fires for its sounds it certainly engages thought and emotions far more than most.  The EP is strong and enjoyable but feels like just the foreword on something much better and greater to come from the pair, with a second EP and album in the works.
Homepage: 
http://www.DEProjects.co.uk/

Facebook: 
http://www.facebook.com/MiXE1
 (MiXE1)
Facebook: 
http://www.facebook.com/DraconicElimination
 (D.E.P)

RingMaster 25/06/2012

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Defeat: Outbursts!

Having treated us already this year to the impressive releases from the like of Ghost In The Static and MiXE1, Static Distortion Records now introduce us to electro/industrial duo Defeat through their deeply striking Outbursts! EP. The release offers a quartet of electro/harsh EBM/industrial shaded songs with infectious melodic pop pulsations throughout. The EP mixes all elements into a sometimes crawling, often insatiable, and consistently a welcomingly lingering contagion which leaves its mark long after departure for the fullest satisfaction.

Defeat is Hertfordshire based Anthony Matthews (Voice) and Gary Walker (Synthetics), a pair of school friends who came together to create in the description upon their bio music which is ‘Atmosphere, Angst and Rhythm’ in the mould of Nitzer Ebb, 242, FLA, Depeche Mode, Gary Numan and NIN.’ That pretty much sums it up though it only gives some of the full flavour the duo has creates on Outbursts!

Opener and lead song for the release, with a video for it due soon, is Parasite, a track which instinctively accelerates an addiction with electronic hooks which have a beckoning lure and effect like silver to a magpie. The track slowly exhales its musical breath initially with a metallic call before winding up its electro heartbeat with surging pulses of sonic light. Once the almost dour low key vocals of Matthews come in within an almost restrained energy the song immediately reminds of Fad Gadget, Matthews and the shadowed atmosphere created especially reminding of the inspirational work of Frank Tovey. The song gets more excitable with eager energy and catchy electro hooks whilst the enthused surge teasing as it progresses only adds to reinforce the Fad Gadget comparison and ignite a deeper delight, the mesmeric mix of dark and lit shadows irresistible.

The title track makes its presence known next with opening thumping beats and a belligerent bass toned electro spine taunting the ear. Crescendos of frenetic melodic eruptions erupt throughout and fuel the chorus, sparking against the darkened intensity brewing from the core of the song. The track beings a flavouring of Joy Division, NIN, and Depeche Mode to stalk the sound excellently and though not as openly inviting as the opener is equally as irresistible and impressive.

How Pathetic and Bored complete the line-up of what is quite simply an impressively crafted and outstandingly thrilling EP. The first of the pair is a track spilling attitude and contempt from every note, beat, and syllable. Its agitated melodic core energy is niggly and caustically explosive at times especially when speared by the bulging and throbbing intermittent dark surge of sound. Spiteful and twisting gleefully in its own venom the track is anthemic and uncontrollably contagious. The closing track is a more soothing and warm song, well that is the initial impression it gives and though it still retains a discordant beauty and darkened harmonious presence throughout it is just as shadowed and emotionally scarred as those before it. The track soars to great heights of light and heated sonics at times but always there is the distressed undercurrent to bring a hypnotic balance.

Outbursts! is an instant and undeniable proof that electro and industrial music in The UK is on a definite rise with bands like Defeat and others brought by Static Distortion Records as examples, leading the way with quality and inventive imagination. Defeat will become a major player in their genre, Outbursts! the evidence.

http://www.defeatmusic.com

http://staticdistortionrecords.co.uk/album/outbursts

RingMaster 15/06/2012

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MiXE1: Module 02

When the debut EP from UK electro rock band MiXE1 was unveiled in 2010 there was more than mere interest set in motion for any future releases. Module 01 was a haunting and vibrant collection of tracks offering much promise ahead whilst at the time lighting up thoughts and emotions with its warm enveloping sounds. A free single last year in A Spark In The Air only strengthened the eagerness for more with word of a follow up EP set for 2012 the trigger for even more enthused and impatient waiting. Module 02 does not disappoint, a four song release it brings an evolution in sound and invention with all the essences and imagination that first captivated still on board.

     MiXE1 is the solo project of Hatfield based songwriter Mike Evans. Having played in an alternative metal band he reached a point where he wanted to express himself in a different way and turned to electronic music, a genre that had already engaged his tastes. The project which became MiXE1 allowed him to find a more positive energy and area to express himself within, bringing a contrast to the darker sounds and lyrics which were borne from his previous band. It was a move as by the evidence of his releases which has openly inspired his creativity, the new release being no exception but a further step forward in his vision, songwriting and its realisation.

The EP immediately lights up the senses with opener This Is Not Goodbye, synths and dazzling swarms of sound wrapping around the ear with a tender embrace. With an emerging throbbing pulse the song spreads deeper into the head as the vocals of Evans, smooth and mesmeric soak the music in dazzling harmonies and care. Swaying within its warmth one is then thrust into a frenzy of aggressive guitars, vocals, and blistering intensity.  It creates the perfect union of extremes and continually unpredictable glories, offering a NIN/ Celldweller like feel with bursts of Sonic Syndicate. That is simplifying it as it has a uniqueness and freshness that is MiXE1 alone. It is the best track on Module 2, a sure and persistent companion to share time with though the other three songs that stir within the EP are just as compulsive.

Your Heart Is The Beat starts with the unlocking of the song, its grace and flow emerging from shadows into the limelight of the ear with a heated grace and hypnotic energy. Emotive and seemingly personal through passion and heart the song is a wave of summer warmth splintered with flashes of harshness which ignites even deeper veined satisfaction. Electro pop with a Visage like breath the track is a wonderful excuse to visit inner thoughts and emotions with an understanding soundtrack.

Do You Know continues the feeling with more eighties electro flavouring though it reminds more of John Foxx led Ultravox with its underlying rock edge. Another song with euphoric depth to it the irresistible pleasure lifts the lowest spirit and any darkly shadowed emotion with caring imagination and evocative thought coated in infectious harmonies and soaring melodies.

The release is completed by the impassioned Never Been Gone, a far reaching atmospheric mist of emotion spotted with falling sonic glittering and the tenderness of electronic enveloping. Once more Evans brings textures to the music which makes each dip into its sea of sounds fresh and deeply rewarding. The song invites one to lie back and let it take them through their own journey of memories, thoughts, and feelings, the wonderful sounds an understanding companion.

Released June 16th on Static Distortion Records, Module 02 is a stunning result of an artist who has found a full well of imagination and craft within music he is relatively speaking still fresh to and it harbours even greater promise for a planned debut album ahead. Just to be picky one would say more guitar and more of the metallic abrasion on that please, but if it is as good as this EP, we will take anything MiXE1 brings with relish.

RingMaster 196/05/2012

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